


Smittened Pups

by 101DalmationStFan



Category: 101 Dalmatian Street (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Plans That Goes South, Puppy Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:48:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26789218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/101DalmationStFan/pseuds/101DalmationStFan
Summary: Having had a rough day taking care of his younger siblings, Dawkins stepped out of the house to take a break from the chaos, where he chanced upon some new neighbours passing by. One thing leads to another, and somewhere in between, an actual love potion was created. Unfortunately for Dawkins, Baby Cupid's aim wasn't particularly accurate that day.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 17





	1. Chapter 1

**Smittened Pups (Part 1)**

It was a cool and breezy Sunday evening in the Camden town of London. With dusk soon approaching, the humans of the small town started to head back to their homes and all activities were gradually dying down as everyone was ready to call it a day.

However, the very opposite was happening at house number 101 on Dalmatian Street. Within the backyard of the townhouse, loud raving music blasted into the surrounding atmosphere while colourful neon lights flashed about in sync with the beat of the blaring music.

One might pass by the backyard and assumed that a pack of rowdy teenagers were the cause of the chaotic atmosphere, but take a look inside, and they would find that it was actually an entire pack of Dalmatian puppies having a party of their lives.

D.J. Dalmatian wore a wide, toothy grin on his muzzle as his paws fidgeted about his sound-mixer that was placed on a makeshift stage in front of a rowdy audience of 90 other partying puppies.

“Everybody howl in the air like you just don’t care!”

His iconic catchphrase was enthusiastically met by his hyped-up siblings, as their scattered howls rang out into the surroundings.

Within the crowd of yelping and howling puppies was their eldest sister Dolly, who was laughing her heart out at seeing all her younger siblings having the evening of their lives. “That’s right, everyone! Howl like it’s the last howl of your lives!” She laughed, and was met by waves of cheering from the puppies. “This is probably the only time you’ll ever get to howl your heads off without Dylan spoiling the fun! Woohooooooo!”

Dylan would have usually disapproved of such a wild and almost out-of-control party taking place in the backyard, but as it turned out, he came down with a terrible case of the sniffles that particular day, and was forced to coop himself up in the living room where he nestled himself in his basket under layers of blankets.

Back at the yard, Dolly began bopping her head to the beat with Dizzy and Dee-Dee, all three of them giggling away as they danced away into the dusk. That was, until Dolly suddenly felt someone tapping rapidly on her shoulder.

“Dolly… are you sure letting everyone howl like this is an acceptable idea? They could get dysphonia and have a sore throat, or even lose their voices! Not to mention all the unpleasantries that we’re causing to our neighbours…”

Dolly looked behind to see Dawkins standing among the other pups and bearing a concerned look on his muzzle.

“Oh, relax Dawkins! No dog’s ever lost their voice from howling!” Dolly grinned at her younger brother. “Come on, lighten up! Even if Dylan’s asked you to take over his duties, you _don’t_ actually have to _be_ like him, you know!”

“Yeah, Dawkins! Don’t be ‘classic Dylan No. 2’!” Dee-Dee giggled and leaned against him. “Just join in and dance with us!”

“No… I will not be a part of this ludicrous tomfoolery,” he objected rather sternly as he pushed the giggling Dee-Dee away from him. “Dolly! You just have to stop this madness before either the puppies lose their voices, or we receive an eviction notice from the Municipality for outrageous disruption of peace!”

“Hmmm… yeah, alright, we’ll stop this madness…” Dolly nonchalantly shrugged, which caught Dawkins off guard. “… in 5 hours’ time!”

With that, Dolly erupted into laughter and was joined by both Dee-Dee and Dizzy. Dawkins let out an unamused sigh and trudged his way through the sea of giggling black and white. “Might as well get some peace and try to think of some good lawyers…” He grumbled to himself before reaching the house and slamming the door behind him.

Even with the door shut, the walls of the house rattled to the bass of D.J.’s wild music. Dawkins decided he had to get far away from the backyard as possible if he wanted a moment’s peace. He sulkily made his way through the house, having made up his mind to step outside the front door for a while.

Along the way, he happened to pass by the living room where he could hear Dylan’s string of sneezes.

“A’tchoo!” “A… A’tchoo!” “A-A-A… A’TCHOOO!”

Dawkins briefly paused in his tracks and peered inside. He saw Dylan curled up in his basket with his back towards the living room’s entrance and underneath 5 layers of thick blankets.

Dawkins’ sulking face morphed into a look of guilt when he saw Dylan in such sorry state. His older brother had relied on him to take over his daily tasks while he recuperates, yet the entire day: he failed to keep an orderly atmosphere during breakfast and the pups ended up wrecking the kitchen with the Kibble Blaster, he failed to control the pups during the midday playtime and now all the rooms upstairs (except his own) were upside down, and just twenty minutes ago, he failed to control everyone from making a thundering ruckus in the backyard and increasing the possibility of them being evicted from their own house.

And where was Dolly throughout those episodes? Well, she was doing either one of two things: joining in on the mess with the pups or encouraging them to ‘spice up the fun’. For once, Dawkins finally understood why Dylan was always getting worked up whenever he talked to Dolly.

The walls of the house rattled again and disrupted his train of thoughts. He let out another annoyed sigh and decided to just forget about everything for now. Eventhough most of the house was still a complete mess, he could always have it cleaned up later on and pretend that everything had been going well when Dylan wakes up much later. But for now, he just needed some time to himself after a day of failures and havocs.

He went straight to the front main entrance and hoped through the pet door. Once he was outside, the blaring of D.J.’s music became clearer once again now that he was in the open air. He noticed the humans passing by were giving incensed looks at the house as walked past.

 _Yep… one imminent eviction notice coming right up…_ he mentally sighed to himself.

With all the stares and D.J.’s music, Dawkins felt the desperate need to just get as far away from the house as possible and have some peaceful time alone.

_Perhaps some time alone in the park would do the trick?_

He hoped off the two small steps in front of the door and proceeded to-

_Wait… why are those dog bowls outside the house?_

He let out an annoyed grunt as he stared at three dog bowls that were strewn about next to the two small steps, each one clearly labelled with their respective owners’ name: Dimitri-1, Dimitri-2 and Dimitri-3.

Of course the Dimitris would be sloppy enough to leave their dog bowls outside the house. What were they doing with their bowls outside the house? Dawkins shuddered to even think of the reason why. He decided the least he could do was to bring them back into the house.

Dimitri-2’s bowl was the only one that was right side up and had some clear water in it. He picked up the bowl in his jaw and turned around to return back to the door… Only to freeze in his steps and almost letting go of the bowl.

His pupils dilated and his breathing intensified. Approaching towards him were two trotting female Samoyeds, their thick coats of white fur fluttered against the evening breeze with each trot they took. One appeared to be older than the other, with the younger one looking like she’s about his size and age.

They both stopped short just a few feet away from him and Dawkins’ ears pricked up to hear the older one talking to her younger companion.

“Wow! Today’s ‘Power Trot’ definitely felt much livelier than yesterday’s! Definitely more things to see along the way!”

The younger Samoyed grinned at her. “That’s because we took _my_ route today, sis! I told you that this is the more interesting part of town!”

Her older sister rolled her eyes in good humour before turning her gaze towards the direction they came from. “Seems Harry had a little trouble keeping up with us,” she snickered. “Those two-leggers get lethargic so easily, don’t they?”

The younger one chuckled in agreement with her sister, but then happened to notice Dawkins in front of her.

Dawkins’ heart went on a frenzy when she started approaching him. He gulped the large lump in his throat as his eyes wandered around the approaching Samoyed; her soft white pelt that waved along with the breeze, her smile that graced the ends of her soft lips which slightly revealed her shiny fangs, and her-

“Hey there!”

A choked gasped escaped through Dawkins’ jaw when he realized that she was now standing right in front of him. The sweet scent of crushed peonies that emitted from her fur had a somewhat lustful effect on him and his eyes once again ghosted about the young Samoyed’s figure.

This certainly did not go unnoticed as she watched him take her in. “Whoah… calm your eyes there, pal,” she teased him with a grin.

“Wha- what? Oh, pardon me! I- I’m do apologize for starin- I mean… looking at you,” Dawkins stuttered nervously as the Samoyed continued to eye him in amusement. “It’s just that well… uh- I’ve never actually seen you around here before, so I-”

“That’s understandable, we’re new around here,” she replied. “We’ve just moved in on Arlington Road three days ago.”

Dawkins’ ears pricked up. Arlington Road was just about 5 blocks away from the house, and hearing this got him excited. “Ah, I see… well, I uh… hope you enjoy our humble town of Camden.” An idea then suddenly flew into his head. “Might I interest you on a brief tour around Camden? I’d be more than delighted to show you some of our town’s more prominent landmarks! We have the Camden Market, Primrose Hill Park, the-”

“Actually… I’m more interested in having some of the water in that bowl you have in your mouth at the moment. Would you mind if I have some?” she asked.

Dawkins was slightly taken aback before he realized that he was still holding Dimitri-2’s bowl of water in his jaw. “Oh, of course! Please, allow me…”

He then gently placed the bowl in front of her before sitting back on his haunches and gazing at her with a dreamy look.

The young Samoyed proceeded to drink the water from the bowl, well aware that the Dalmatian pup’s gaze was firmly locked onto her with the goofy look plastered on his face.

After a few gulps of the water, she raised her head once again. “Hey, thanks for that! Really need to rehydrate after three hours of Power Trotting,” she said to the still goofy-faced Dawkins. “Anyways, the name’s Sammie. What’s yours?”

“Sammie…”

He sighed his response as his eyes kept zeroing in on her jade orbs.

“You’re called Sammie too?” she asked with a confused raised brow.

“Hmm? Wha- Oh, sorry! My name’s Dammie- I mean DAWKINS!” He nearly burst out his name and couldn’t stop letting out a nervous laughter after that.

Sammie the young Samoyed grinned in amusement. “Dawkins… how cute.”

Hearing this, Dawkins giddily felt that he could melt into a puddle right then and there. He realized that he needed to get some conversation going if he wanted her to remain interested in him. “So, uh… do you happen to Power Trot around here often?”

“Well, my sister and I do Power Trot every evening, but this is the first time we’ve actually come to this part of Camden. And I think even my sister agrees that this is the more eventful part of the town. We might just start coming around here more often,” she explained, before noticing the sudden twinkle in his eyes. “You know, you’re quite an interesting character, aren’t you, Dawkins?” she quipped with a soft smile. “I think I might just like you.”

Imaginary fireworks immediately began erupting in Dawkins’ mind as he mellowed at her last sentence. “Oh, I uh- well- I’m, uh- heh, it’s a-”

Dawkins desperately tried to find his tongue and come up with a coherent sentence, but her sudden giggle at his antics made it an impossible task.

“Sammie! Sandra! There you are!”

Both pups were interrupted when a male human jogging attire arrived and called out to the Samoyed sisters. “Come on, girls! We… we really h-have to be back home now,” he panted with clear exhaustion.

Sammie’s older sister Sandra had already started prancing about her human’s legs.

Sammie turned to give Dawkins a brief “See ya!” before joining her sister and human.

“S-so long…” Dawkins finally managed to bid his goodbye, although Sammie and her sister were now too far away to hear him. He stared after the three of them before they disappeared around a corner.

The same goofy look remained plastered on his face for the next several seconds before he suddenly shook his head as his senses returned itself back into his mind.

 _My goodness… what did I just experienced? This feeling of… being attracted… feels so bizarre,_ he pondered to himself, staring into the distance where he last saw Sammie.

This was the first time he overcame with such a peculiar feeling, and yet, it felt… great! He giddily smiled to himself when he remembered how she had said that he was cute.

But then he recalled her saying something else: ‘ _You’re an interesting character, aren’t you, Dawkins? I think I might just like you!’_

The goofy smile suddenly vanished and his brows furrowed in confusion.

 _She thinks I’m interesting… yet she says she might just like me… does that mean she doesn’t like me despite finding me interesting?_ He quizzed himself. _She’s called me cute, she found me interesting… but why doesn’t she like me?_

The young Dalmatian pup heaved a heavy sigh. Sammie was the first female outside his family that he interacted with… and already it’s gotten him feeling confused. He knows for a fact that he really likes her, but… does she actually like him back? Well, he certainly wanted her to like him back. _She’s pretty, she seems smart, she’s witty, she…_

Dawkins froze mid-way.

_… goes Power Trotting every evening…_

He then shifted his gaze at Dimitri-2’s now empty bowl where she had her drink earlier. He then remembered how she said she would be passing by the area from then on for her Power Trots. So… that would mean more opportunities for him to offer her a bowl of water every time she passes by, then…

An idea suddenly plonked itself into his head. But it was a radical one, and for a brief moment, Dawkins wondered if such an idea would be ethical.

 _Well… she said she might like me… is it such a crime to make her actually like me?_ He reasoned to himself.

He pondered for a few more seconds, before eventually convincing himself that his idea would, at most, be deemed ‘unorthodox’. Yes, that’s right. Unorthodox, unconventional, the likes. Certainly not unethical or even illegal.

With that settled, he picked up the empty bowl and went straight inside the house. He completely ignored the continuous rattling of the walls, the chews toys strewn about on the staircase and the horrendous state of the upstairs rooms as he passed by them on his way to his own room.

Once inside, he shut the door behind him and looked around. His eyes scanned around the various devices and contraptions that were neatly arranged around inside the little room, until he found his digital tablet resting on some books on his study table.

From the data library of his tablet, he searched for the term ‘ _pheromonol’._ In an instant, everything he needed to know was displayed before him. A giddy smile formed across his lips as he started rapidly tapping away on tablet. Seconds later, one of the contraptions at the far corner of his room which was remotely connected to the tablet sprang into life.

An empty beaker was placed inside a small chamber in the belly of the funny-looking machine. After a few whirs and a sputter, a small nozzle above the beaker filled it with a crystal-clear liquid up to its brim.

Meanwhile, Dawkins had taken Dimitri-2’s bowl and separately filled it with tap water before returning in front of the machine. Holding his breath, he then carefully removed the beaker from the chamber and held it in his paws.

He stared at the clear liquid in the beaker, his lips curved slowly upwards in a triumphant grin. The liquid may have fooled anyone else into believing it was just plain water, but it was in fact a chemical that-

“ACK!”

Dawkins violently gagged after he let go of his breath and accidentally took a whiff of the liquid.

 _Ok… perhaps nobody would ever mistake this as plain water with a stench that bad…_ he concluded while desperately holding his breath again.

He then inferred that maybe the stench wouldn’t be so bad if he reduced the liquid’s concentration. So, he then gently poured in some of the liquid into the bowl of tapwater before putting the beaker of remaining liquid back into the machine’s chambers.

Slowly and ever so surely, he inched his nose closer to the bowl and soon, despite some hesitance, he mustered enough courage to draw in another whiff. He mentally prepared himself in case he threw up, but to his surprise, the water in the bowl didn’t smell too bad. However, the water still slightly reeked of the stench, and that still posed a problem for Dawkins.

 _Hmmm… perhaps some fragrance will mask the odour,_ he thought to himself. He then recalled his encounter with Sammie and remembered that she had this distinct, heavenly scent of crushed peonies that seemed to have this lustful effect on him.

That’s right… perhaps he should mask the scent with a fragrance that had the essence of flowers in it! So, for a moment, he thought of using his tablet to whip up that specific fragrance using the same process as the strange liquid, but then he remembered that someone in the household already had such a fragrance in her possession:

_Mum!_

He carefully placed the bowl of infused water on his table and promptly left the room without shutting the door. He assumed he wouldn’t take more than a few seconds as he knew that Delilah kept her belongings on a specific cabinet in the corner of the room. However…

_Oh good heavens…_

Dawkins stared in dismay as he saw that his parents’ room was completely thrashed upside down like all the other rooms (besides his own) with chew toys that didn’t belong in there strewn about on the floor and all his parents’ belongings lay cluttered randomly at different spots of the room.

He drew out a long, tired breath before deciding to go on ahead on a treasure hunt and find his mum’s fragrance as soon as possible. He was determined to finish off his little project first before commencing Operation Clean-Up-The-House-In-One-Hour-Before-Mum-And-Dad-Gets-Back. With that, he started searching up and down and all around the room for the bottle of fragrance.

And while he was doing that, two pairs of pawsteps could be heard making their way up the staircase that was soon followed by two bickering voices.

“Dude, it’s not exactly my fault that the extension cord decided to fail midway into your ‘Howlfest’, D.J.!”

“But I put you in charge of setting up the stage for me, Dante! The least you could do was choose a higher quality extension cord to connect to my sound mixer.”

“Nothing actually stays ‘high quality’ in our house, you know…”

The two brothers stopped once they reached the top of the stairs and into the cluttered hallway. Dante, who was carrying the faulty extension cord in his jaw, peered into the first room. “Whoah… it’s going to take a while to find a replacement cord in this mess,” he commented as he stared at the state of the cluttered playroom.

D.J., however, caught sight of the adjacent room that was the odd room out in the entire floor that was left with its door open.

“Hey, let’s check out Dawkins’ room. If he’s got all those weird machines in it, I’m pretty sure he would have a simple extension cord to spare,” D.J. suggested and entered his genius brother’s room.

Dante wasn’t so sure about it. “Hey, man… I don’t think we should go in there,” he warned in a shaky voice as he sat in front of the door frame. “My senses are telling me that a certain doom awaits us if we go in there!”

D.J. rolled his eyes and turned to face his older brother. “Well, my senses are telling me that if I don’t get my music back on, the restless pups will just storm the house and make another round of mess again. Can we just quickly find an extension cord and get back out there?”

Dante hesitated at first, but eventually conceded that what D.J. said was true. “Okay… let’s just hope Dawkins doesn’t mind us poking our noses about in his room…” he said as he walked inside.

D.J. ignored this and proceeded to scan around one part of the room. Dante placed the faulty cord on the floor before searching about the bookcases in the other part of the room.

After about five minutes of thorough searching, D.J. found no extension cord at all, but he did picked up a sudden dehydrating thirst. He hadn’t a drink since before his ‘Howlfest’ started, and his need to rehydrate brought his attention to Dimitri-2’s bowl sitting on the study table.

 _Oh, thank goodness…_ he thought to himself as he went over and looked into the bowl.

His tongue dipped itself into the clear water and pulled the water down into his throat.

“YUCK! What is that?!”

His usually calm face twisted into a weird grimace and he shuddered violently in disgust after taking only a gulp of the water.

Dante nearly jumped out of his fur when D.J. made the sudden exclamation, and he immediately rushed over to him out of concern. “Whoah, what happened, man?” he asked.

“That water… it tasted so weird!” was all D.J. could say as he was now furiously rubbing both paws against his tongue to get rid of the horrible taste.

Dante then shifted his gaze to the bowl on the table. He gently took it with both paws and stared at the water in it out of curiosity. The odour of the water was quite off-putting, but yet, he proceeded to dip his tongue into it to have a taste, again out of pure curiosity.

“Ugh… that is gross…” he reached the same conclusion. “Wonder what it is…”

D.J. was about to say something when Dawkins suddenly emerged at the door while holding a bottle of fragrance between his jaws… but it promptly crashed onto the floor and shattered into pieces when his jaw gawked open after seeing his brothers fidgeting with the bowl.

“DON’T TOUCH THAT!” He frantically yelled out before making a mad dash towards them.

Unfortunately, he failed to notice the faulty extension cord that Dante had left on the floor, and before he realized it, his paws got tangled into the cord which sent him careening straight into Dante.

“OOF!”

“OUCH!”

Dawkins groaned after the two collided. Something started dripping onto his snout and at the same time, he tasted something unpleasant that lingered in his mouth.

Dawkins’ eyes shot wide open with horror when he realized what happened. The bowl of liquid was now upside-down on his head above his snout, and whatever that was left of the water either had drenched both him and Dante… or had been ingested by him.

With a panicked cry, he stood right up and began furiously rubbing his tongue to get rid of the liquid. D.J. watched in surprise at seeing Dawkins doing the same thing that he did just a couple of minutes ago.

“Hey, Dawkins, what exactly is that strange water?” He asked, while helping Dante get up on his fours.

Dawkins immediately stopped rubbing his tongue and glared furiously at his two brothers after hearing D.J. speak. “Strange water?!” He repeated D.J.’s words in an angry cry. “Forget about the ‘strange water’! What are you two doing in my room?!”

“Whoah, calm down there. We just came in to see if you had an extra extension cord,” D.J. explained.

“So if you’re looking for an extension cord, why in the name of the great heavens did you start drinking that bowl of water?!”

“Well… I was feeling a little thirsty after searching high and low in your room,” D.J. admitted, and felt a heavy guilt when Dawkins slapped his own forehead in exasperation. “Look… I admit that I owe you a deep apology for touching your things, and I’m truly sorry,” D.J. said with his utmost sincerity. “But seriously, Dawkins… what exactly was that water that we drank?”

Dawkins drew out a long breath. “Well… if you really must know, that liquid is actually Pheromonol. It’s um… it’s…”

His brothers looked at him with a raised brow, wondering why he was being hesitant.

“… it’s actually- a chemical that induces the consumer to immediately become attracted to another individual of the opposite sex.”

He paused to see that his brothers clearly didn’t understand his sentence. He let out a sigh. “In other words… the dog that drinks this water will immediately become attracted to another dog of the opposite sex.”

Finally understanding what he said, D.J. and Dante exchanged awkward glances.

“Wait… you mean to say that if we drink this water, we will be immediately attracted to a girl?” D.J. slowly asked with a raised brow.

“Yes… that was how I engineered it,” Dawkins sighed. “Although I certainly didn’t plan for it to be consumed by any of us,” he grumbled with a disgruntled look.

“So… who was supposed to consume the water, then?” D.J. shot back with a quizzing look.

Dawkins once again became hesitant as he didn’t want to admit to his brothers that he was smittened by another pup. D.J., however, seemed to have clicked the pieces together and finally realized what was going on. His lips curved into a smirk, but before he could make a teasing remark, Dante interrupted him:

“Wait! Did you say that if we drink that water, we would immediately be attracted to a girl?”

“Yes. I thought I made it clear about that.”

“So… considering that all three of us had drank the water… what happens if we see one of our sisters…?”

“Well, we-”

He cut short his sentence when he realized the point that Dante was making.

The three brothers exchanged horrified looks with each other before letting out a low groan in unison.

“Okay… this is very bad.” D.J. said in a panicked tone.

“I told you a doom will befall on us if we entered his room!” Dante lashed out at D.J. before cowering back in fear. “What do we do now?!”

“Okay… we just need to maintain our composures first. There’s absolutely no point in bickering at each other,” Dawkins said, trying his best to remain calm and rational. “I admit that the effects of Pheromonol lasts 28 hours at the minimum,” he continued, much to his brothers’ chagrin. “However… my database shows that there’s another chemical that has the ability to extinguish the Pheromonol in our systems and reverse its effects.”

“Okay, great! How soon can you make it?” D.J. asked with desperation tinged in his voice.

“Well, the molecular structure of this potential antidote is slightly more complicated than that of Pheromonol, so it would take at least an hour for the machine to produce it,” he explained, before making his way towards the door. “So, until the antidote is produced, I suggest we shut the door and confine ourselves in-”

His sentence was cut short for the third time that day when all of a sudden, Da Vinci appeared in front of the stair case, directly outside his room.

Their unsuspecting sister was making her way back to her drawing room when she passed by Dawkins’ room. She paused in her tracks when her peripheral vision picked up an unusual sight inside the room.

She raised a confused brow when she saw D.J., Dante, and Dawkins staring at her with their jaws gawked open and a smittened look that lingered in their eyes.

“Um… are you three okay?” she slowly asked with genuine concern for her brothers as they continued staring at her with their goofy looks.

Much to her utter surprise and further astonishment, all three of them then let out a dreamy sigh in unison. “Oh, Da Vinci…”

**To be continued…**


	2. Part 2

**Smittened Pups (Part 2)**

Da Vinci felt increasingly uncomfortable at the sight of her three brothers apparently drooling over her. For a moment, she thought that they were playing some sort of prank, but the lustful look in their eyes seemed a little too real for them to be feigning it.

Before she could open her mouth to speak her mind about it, Dante unexpectedly rushed out from Dawkins’ room, went past Da Vinci and into the room where he sleeps before returning right in front of a stupefied Da Vinci, all within 3 seconds flat.

Da Vinci stared wide-eyed at her older brother who wore a wide, toothy grin as he stood a few inches in front of her while clutching a little, pink bow in between his jaws.

“So, Da Vinci… hope you don’t mind, but I found this pretty little bow in the park the other day, and I think it makes you look even more beautiful! Err… I mean, you already are beautiful, but- you’ll look more cuter with it. Heh-heh.” After letting out that sheepish laugh, Dante proceeded to place the bow next to her left ear before staring back into his sister’s eyes and awaited to hear her thoughts.

Da Vinci could only give an awkward smile at Dante, as she genuinely thought that the bow looked silly on her, but still, she politely said, “Um, thanks, Dante. That’s so kind of you.” She then hurriedly went on her way to escape his attention. Walking past him, she heard Dante let out a dreamy sigh as she felt his eyes follow after her, and she had to refrain herself from shuddering with unease.

She took no more than 5 steps when D.J. suddenly appeared and blocked her path. Da Vinci furrowed her brows in confusion as she eyed her second brother, who wielded his guitar in his paws while giving her what appeared to be a rather flirtatious grin. “So, Da Vinci… I’ve been practicing this new beautiful song I’ve heard playing over the radio. You wouldn’t mind if I shared it with you, right?”

“Um...” And before she could think of an appropriate response, D.J. started strumming the strings of his guitar anyways.

_{_ _Well you done-done me and you bet I felt it}  
{I tried to be chill, but you're so hot that I melted}  
{I fell right through the cracks…  
And now I'm trying to get back!}_

_  
{Before the cool done run out  
I'll be giving it my best-est,_

_{And nothing's going to stop me but divine intervention}  
  
_

_{I reckon it's again my turn...  
To win some or learn some}_

_{But I… won't he…si…tate… no-more… no-more…}  
{It can-not wait… I'm yoours!}_

Da Vinci had to silently admit that she was very impressed by how D.J. beautifully sang those few verses while skillfully setting the mood with his guitar, but the way he was grinning and staring into her eyes made it impossible for her to enjoy his music.

Before D.J. could sing another verse, Da Vinci decided to firmly excuse herself and get away from all the sudden unwanted attention she was receiving. “Err… D.J., you sing very beautifully, but I really want to get to drawing room, if you don’t mind.”

Like Dante, D.J. let out a dreamy sigh upon hearing her brief compliment of his singing and Da Vinci could have sworn that she saw him salivating heavily as she walked past him.

Feeling weirded out more than ever, she hurried her steps towards her room, well aware that two pairs of her brothers’ eyes were trailing after her. She was just within reach of her door when suddenly, Dawkins appeared right in front of her and was quite obviously trying to block her way.

“Oh, my dear Da Vinci…” he dramatically began, causing her to let out a rather tired and exasperated sigh. “Da Vinci… while I may not have the skills to woo you with the melody of a song, nor do I have any discarded bows to give you as a present… I do have this little flower I’m currently experimenting with. Care to take a whiff?”

He then produced to her what appears to be a sunflower that he had been hiding behind his back before hovering it in front of his sister’s snout.

By now, Da Vinci was more desperate than ever to get to her room, but out of her respect for Dawkins, she decided to just to take a quick whiff of the flower and then hope that she wouldn’t have to entertain him again. She inched her nose closer to the sunflower before breathing in its sweet scent.

“Oh!”

She let out a sudden gasp when, as soon as she breathed in over the flower, its petals started to fold inwards and shrink in size while its bright yellow colour slowly turned a brilliant red at the same time.

Da Vinci stared in disbelief as the sunflower shrunk itself before eventually morphing its shape into a rose. “Wow…”

The still spell-bound Dawkins immediately took her exclamation of awe as a clear sign of victory. “Well, my dearest Da Vinci… I see that you’re intrigued by this genetically modified sunflower that has been the focus of my experiments the past week! If you’re still interested in it, I wouldn’t mind parting with it and present it as my humble gift for you.”

He then gave a slight bow and extended his paw to present the ‘rose’ to her. Although she was reluctant, Da Vinci silently took it and hoped that it would be enough for him to leave her alone.

She was just about to politely ask him to move aside from her door when D.J. suddenly appeared on her right, still wielding his guitar but with a somewhat look of desperation on his muzzle.

“Hey, err… Da Vinci… I- I got another beautiful song I could play on my guitar if you like! Just let me-”

And before he could finish off his sentence, Dante appeared on her left and butted in with an equally desperate look on his face, “No, forget about D.J.’s music! I-I have plenty of other things that will look cute on you that weren’t ‘discarded’! I’ve got ribbons, dye, intriguing collars-”

“Dante. All those items that you mentioned are goth-related, which is clearly out of dear Da Vinci’s taste!” Dawkins cut him off. “And if it’s not apparent to you two yet, she has clearly found my flower to be the most appealing present of all, so your collective efforts to continue wooing are in vain!”

This little declaration clearly did not bode well with the two other male pups, and they both started baring their fangs at Dawkins.

Sensing that a potential brawl was imminent, Da Vinci finally decided that enough was enough, and she promptly pushed Dawkins aside before slamming the door right at her brothers’ faces.

With her now completely disappeared from their views, Dante, D.J. and Dawkins jolted violently, as if the spell that had been controlling them had broken.

The three brothers exchanged awkward land confused looks at each other.

“Hey… what happened?” Dante was the first to break the silence.

“Why am I holding my guitar?” D.J. exclaimed, upon realizing that he had been wielding the musical instrument.

“And… why are we standing in front of Da Vinci’s room?” Dante asked again as he and D.J. stared at the door that was marked with colourful pawprints in front of them.

Dawkins was just as bewildered as them at first, but after observing D.J. still wielding his guitar and considering the fact they were all standing in front of their sister’s room, he finally came to the horrific realization of what had just happened. He let out a long, disappointed groan. “Oh, kibbles…”

Dante and D.J. heard him and before they could ask why he was groaning, their brother suddenly yanked them by their collars before dragging them backwards into his room.

“Ay!”

“Hey, what gives?!”

The moment they reached the thresholds of his room, he slammed the door shut, even bolting the locks on it as a precaution. His brothers clearly didn’t take it too kindly with him for dragging them all the way by their collars.

“Ay, Dawkins! What has gotten into you? Why’d you do that for?” D.J. demanded for an explanation.

“Couldn’t you’ve just asked us to follow you back into your room?” Dante added, aiming an annoyed glare at the young scientist.

“Listen… I don’t think either of you have any idea the seriousness of the situation that we’re in…” Dawkins said, with a troubled look on his muzzle that caused his brothers to exchange confused glances at each other.

“What situation?” Dante asked.

“Don’t you get it?” Dawkins almost burst out. “Do you remember anything that happened before all three of us were standing outside of Da Vinci’s room?”

D.J. furrowed his brows with a frown as he tried to recall. “Hmm… it’s kinda blurry… but I think I remembered that you were talking about that strange water that all of us drank and wanted to close the door to your room, when… we all saw Da Vinci outside.”

“Yes. And then after that, we found ourselves standing outside her room. What do you think happened in between?!”

Finally realizing what Dawkins was trying to tell them, D.J.’s jaws gawked open and he remained frozen with a horrified look on his muzzle before he eventually let out a low groan. “Dawkins… are you saying that, all three of us…?”

“Yes. The _pheromonol_ may have caused a chemical reaction within our systems that, in turn, induced us to um… _court_ with Da Vinci.” He said in a small voice.

“Wait… _court_? As in… courting? As in… flirting?!” Dante blurted out with terror in his eyes. “You’re saying that we each tried to… flirt with our own sister?!”

“Um… yes.” Dawkins meekly confirmed before nervously biting his lower lip.

Dante gazed at Dawkins before suddenly collapsing onto the floor like a plank of wood. D.J. buried his face into his paws and felt like doing the same.

Eventually, Dante, still laying on the floor, finally spoke. “You know… I’ve made plenty of predictions of how the world is gonna end. But not once did I predict that _my_ world would end in a disgusting way…”

“Oh… Da Vinci is so gonna hate me after this,” D.J. lamented as he pictured his sister ignoring him for the rest of her life. “I just hope we didn’t scare her too much.”

Dawkins shared their sentiments and felt guilty for being the cause of the misery of Da Vinci and his brothers. But he knew there’s a way to solve everything. “Okay… I confess that I made a grave mistake by creating this _pheromonol_ for my own selfish reason.” His brothers sourly faced him to hear what else he had to say.

“But… as I mentioned before we were interrupted by our sister’s presence, there is an antidote that could counter the effects of _pheromonol_ from our systems. I just need to produce it from my database.”

He then went to his desk and started tapping away on his tablet. A few seconds later, the same machine that produced the _pheromonol_ started whirring and clanking.

D.J. approached Dawkins as he was still tapping away on the tablet. “You’re sure that the antidote will work?”

Dawkins paused for a while and looked like he was thinking of an appropriate response. “Well… I can’t exactly guarantee the effectiveness of this potential antidote… but then again, I didn’t exactly think that the _pheromonol_ would have even worked in the first place either. So, let’s just base our hopes on that.”

D.J. let out a long, exasperated breath upon hearing this. “Fine… I guess that’s one problem that’s… sort of solved. Now we have to solve another …”

He then turned to face Dante. “How do we explain to Da Vinci about what actually happened?”

Dante bit his lip but tried to come up with something anyways. “Hmm… I- I… don’t exactly know.” He eventually sighed. “It would help if we could remember what we did or what we said when that ‘ _phenomenol_ ’ thingy made us go crazy.”

Dante’s last sentence suddenly got D.J. wondering. “Hey, Dawkins. How come we couldn’t remember anything what we did after we saw Da Vinci?”

Dawkins raised his brows in surprise. “Hmm… I’m not quite sure actually.” He then started browsing something on his tablet before exclaiming once he found an article.

“Ah, here’s why. Apparently, the chemical reaction of _pheromonol_ in our systems will not only induce us to be instantaneously attracted to the first sighted individual of the opposite sex, but it would also temporarily affect the neo-cortex of the brain that controls memory, which may result in short-term memory losses.”

“Really? Well, that’s interesting,” D.J. unamusedly said, before prodding Dawkins further, “So if that water causes memory loss, what exactly is the point of you giving it to your crush and have her acting crazy all over you, but she doesn’t even remember any of it?”

The thorny question seemed to have caused unease for Dawkins. “W-well, I mean… it could actually… I mean-”

His string of stammering was interrupted when Dante chimed in. “Wait, what’s this talk about a crush?”

“Heh, don’t you get it? Dawkins here has a crush on a girl. Why’d you think he made that _‘phemomonol_ ’ water?” D.J. said with a teasing grin aimed at Dawkins.

Dante, however, stared wildly at Dawkins. “Hold up. You’re saying that you actually have a crush on Da Vinci?!”

“NO! Not her!” Dawkins nearly blew his head off at hearing what Dante was implying. “It’s- um…”

His demeanor instantly changed as he realized that he had no other choice but to confess the identity of his crush. Letting out a defeated sigh he hopped off from the study table and landed in front of his brothers, who eyed him intently.

“Okay… if you two haven’t known yet, we have some new neighbours who just moved in a few houses away from us,” Dawkins began explaining. “They’re sisters, and- well… they’re Samoyeds.”

Both D.J. and Dante simultaneously let out an impressed “Ooh…” as they knew that Samoyeds were a rare breed.

“How did you know about them?” D.J. inquired.

“They passed by our door about an hour ago. Right at the same time I decided to step outside for a breather from the wild music that you were playing in the backyard…”

D.J. rolled his eyes at this.

“Anyways… they had been going on their morning walk, and the younger sister happened to see me holding Dimitri-2’s bowl of water that was left outside, and she approached me for a drink. So, well… one thing led to another, and… we started having a rather long and hearty conversation…”

Dawkins paused to see his brothers now listening intently to him with toothy grins on their muzzle. “What’s her name?” Dante asked in an anticipating tone.

He took in a deep breath and sighed out his crush’s name with a dreamy sigh. “Sammie…”

His mind started wandering back to earlier when he first saw Sammie, and a sheepish smile slowly formed on his lips. But he was soon brought back into reality when he heard D.J. and Dante snicker at seeing his goofy expression, which prompted him to shake his head and put on a firmer face, although a tinge of nervousness still lingered on his lips.

“Well, she sounds nice enough,” D.J. commented with his grin still visible on his muzzle. “But I don’t understand why you suddenly created that ‘ _pherimanol’_ water and planned on her to drink it. That’s a little too over the top, don’t you think?”

Dawkins shifted uneasily with guilt, as he knew that what D.J. said was true. “Well… the thing is, at some point during the conversation, she happened to mention that ‘she may actually like me’, and well… I interpreted it as her not actually liking despite having that wonderful conversation earlier, so… I created the _pheromonol_ in hopes that she will actually like me.”

He then let out a long sigh before staring blankly at the floor with drooped ears.

His brothers genuinely felt sorry for him and didn’t expect him to be disheartened. However, Dante was the first to try and comfort him as he approached closer before patting him on the back. “You know, Dawkins… sometimes girls say things that are not meant to be taken literally.”

Dawkins slowly looked up as D.J. also joined in, “Yeah, judging by how you described your first conversation with her, I’d say she actually likes you already.”

Their encouraging words seemed to have lifted his spirits, as Dawkins could finally muster a hopeful smile on his lips. “You really think so?”

“Of course!” D.J. affirmed. “You just have to continue being the gentleman that you already are the next time you see her.”

“Yeah… and not plan on how to feed her some water that makes her go bonkers or something,” Dante added, earning him some hearty chuckles from his two brothers.

Now feeling uplifted more than ever, Dawkins felt confidence brewing inside him as he thought about Sammie. But more importantly, he felt eternally glad that he had D.J. and Dante as his brothers. It’s true that all three of them were the complete opposite of each other’s personality. But, as he himself had just witnessed, his brothers’ differences were barely visible whenever they wanted to help a sibling in need.

“Wow… I must say, I-” Dawkins softly began. “I- I guess I am quite touched by those kind words of yours, D.J… and Dante. I can’t think of any other words to say, but- thank you.”

His brothers grinned at him. It was certainly a rare sight to see him being so emotional, and it was certainly a sight that neither of them would forget for a long time.

“Hey, what are brothers for, right?” Dante remarked with a satisfied grin.

“Yeah! We’ll even help you practice before you see Sammie again,” D.J. added.

Dawkins' lips formed an even bigger smile of gratefulness upon hearing this. He was about to thank them once again when a loud -CLANK- from the machine interrupted him, bringing his attention back to the situation at hand.

“Okay… looks like the antidote is so far only 20% completed, leaving us with approximately 45 minutes left before it is 100% completed and ready for us to consume,” he informed them after picking up his tablet.

“Well… at least it’s only 45 minutes,” D.J. said, trying to remain optimistic.

“Yes, only 45 minutes,” Dawkins repeated. “For as long we remain here in my room and away from Da Vinci, there shouldn’t be any more unruly episodes from the effects of the _pheromonol_ that’s still in our syst-”

His words were unfortunately cut short when a soft humming was heard from outside their room that instantly caused all three brothers to freeze in their places and their ears pricked up in a hypnotized manner.

Just beyond Dawkins’ door, Da Vinci had come out from her drawing room to find some reference objects to be used in her painting from the room opposite of Dawkins’, humming the tune from D.J.’s earlier ‘performance’ as she walked across.

But just as she arrived at that particular room, she suddenly heard the door behind her swing open. Da Vinci gasped and was frozen in her spot when she saw the eerily familiar sight of her three brothers once again staring at her with saliva drooling from their gawked-open mouths. “Not again…” was all she could mumble.

“DA VINCI!”

**End of Part 2**

**I was hoping to keep this as a two-parter, but I guess time is just not in my favour. Looking forward to kind reviews/comment on your thoughts of the story so far! ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Smittened Pups (Part 3)**

"Oh, come on, Dylan! Please, I'm begging you bro... just- just help me out on this for once!"

Dylan stared unamusingly at the pleading Dolly as he laid in his sleeping basket. "For once? You do know I've been helping you out for hundreds of times before this and ended up paying the consequences that _you_ should've faced, right?" He eventually spoke in an irritated tone.

"Okay, yeah- well... how 'bout adding just one more to those number of times?" Dolly asked sheepish, toothy grin.

"Ha! In your dreams!" Dylan spat out dismissively before rolling over to his side to cut himself off from his pesky sister and resume his nap.

Dolly became increasingly frantic and immediately rushed over to Dylan's side before shaking him so violently that it caused his eyes to rattle in their sockets. "Oh come on, Dylan! This is no joke, the pups are going bonkers out in the yard without D.J.'s music! Help me control them or something!" She pleaded.

Incensed more than ever, Dylan responded by swiping away his sister's paws and shot her a frustrated look, "Look, Dolly! I'm ill! I need my nap! And most importantly, I specifically told you _not_ to have any sort of raves with the pups knowing the damage they can do if anything went wrong. You went against what I warned you about. I've already helped you by warning you beforehand, but you refused my help by not _blah-blah... blah blah blah blah..."_

Despite her desperation, Dolly somehow managed to nearly doze off as Dylan's complaints started sounding like incoherent rambling to her.

"... and then there was that time that you- Dolly? DOLLY!"

"Oh wha- uh, yeah! I'm listening!" Dolly snapped herself out and put on a larger sheepish grin on her lips to pretend that she had been listening, but it was quite clear that her brother didn't buy it.

Dylan let out a long, disappointed sigh. "Oh... why do I even bother. You can go handle that problem yourself!" He sharply concluded before curling himself back into his basket.

Dolly once again got into a panic and started desperately shaking her brother again. "Oh, please, please, bro! Look, I can fix this, but I just need a tiny itsy-bitsy help from you, that's all! I promise this is the last time I'll be asking help from you- um... just for today!"

Dylan soon got tired of being shaken about like a ragdoll and was about to lash out a few harsh words when suddenly-

"LEAVE ME ALONE! PLEASE!"

Dylan and Dolly sat up in surprise and shifted their attention to the stairs outside the living room. Both were stupefied when they saw Da Vinci scampering down the stairs three at a time with D.J., Dawkins and Dante chasing after her with the same bizarre, lustful look plastered on all their faces as they ran.

"Da Vinci! Don't leave us!"

"Let us endear you with our affection, my dear Da Vinci!"

"Yo, Da Vinci, we just wanna talk!"

Their sister dashed into the living room and went past Dylan and Dolly, who could only watch in their state of confusion as she disappeared into an adjoining room and slammed shut the door behind her.

Seconds later, D.J., Dante and Dawkins appeared in the living room and started to scramble towards Da Vinci's direction, but Dylan (despite his sickly state) leapt out from his basket and promptly blocked their way, causing all three to crash into him.

_Argh!_

_Ooof!_

_Ouch!_

Dylan groaned in pain as he was knocked down onto the floor from the impact but was able to instantaneously recover and he glowered over at his 3 younger brothers who were still laying in a heap on the floor. "Alright. What's going on?! What exactly were you three doing?"

"Yeah... why were you chasing Da Vinci with those weird looks on your faces?" Dolly added with a raised brow.

With Da Vinci no longer within their sights, the trio once again immediately snapped out of their trance-like state from the effects of the _pherominol_ and stared bewilderedly at their surroundings.

"Whoah... when did we arrive at the living room?" Dante asked, his voice indicated that he was slightly dazed.

"Forget that. Why are we laying on top of each other?!" D.J. yelled out as he realized he was pinned between Dante above him and Dawkins beneath.

The three brothers briefly exchanged awkward glances before all three started wriggling away from each other and were relieved once they each regained their personal space.

Dylan and Dolly were both even more stupefied as they sat and watched their younger brothers' demeanours. "Hey... you guys?" Dolly began, immediately capturing their attention.

D.J., Dante and Dawkins looked at their older siblings in surprise, as if they had just noticed their presence.

"Hey, you three. Mind answering our questions?" Dolly continued, causing the trio to look even more confused.

"Err... what was the question?" Dante asked.

Dolly and Dylan exchanged looks before focusing back on the trio. "You mean to say you don't remember what you were doing literally seconds ago?" Dylan inquired with a suspicious raised brow.

D.J., Dawkins and Dante stared blankly at them. "Um... what exactly _were_ we doing?" Dawkins finally asked, trying to recall his last few actions but to no avail.

"Uh... you three were chasing after Da Vinci..." Dylan slowly informed them and eyed their reactions. "You don't remember doing that?"

"Yeah, and you guys had like... this super creepy looks on your faces while you were chasing her!" Dolly added. "Like seriously... it kinda looked like you guys were attracted to her or something-"

She stopped herself from going further and shivered in disgust at such a notion, but, she soon noticed that her three younger brothers started bearing looks of red-handed guilt, and this soon made her sick in the stomach. "Wait... is- is that's what's going on?!"

D.J. and Dante nervously looked at each other, wondering what on Earth should they say next. Their whole family would disown them if they don't properly explain what was actually going on!

With seconds ticking by and Dolly and Dylan intently training their gazes at them, D.J. stuttered and tried to muster the courage to try and properly explain them. However, Dawkins beat to him first and said, "Well... you see, yes, we were momentarily attracted to our sister-"

He stopped halfway and realized he completely messed up when he saw Dylan and Dolly's mortified looks, while to his left, he saw his two brothers throwing him murderous glares as if they were about to pounce and choke him for his choice of words.

"Uh-uh I m- I- I mean... yes, yes we were momentarily attracted to Da Vinci, but you have to understand! We were doing it against our will!"

Dylan clearly didn't believe him. "What do you mean 'against your will'? You were practically screaming out ' _let us endear you with our affection, my dear Da Vinci_ '!" he scoffed, even imitating Dawkins' lustful tone from earlier on.

Dawkins shifted uneasily at the notion of that sentence, eventhough he didn't quite remember uttering those words. "Well, uh.. that's the thing! I- I mean, we... no, no I mean I-"

He struggled to find the words he needed to say, and the air became tenser with each second he couldn't come up with an answer, as all eyes were now trained on him.

Finally, with the pressure hitting the roof, Dawkins let out a long, tired sigh and faced his elder siblings. Ignoring their tensed looks, he eventually said, "Look... I can explain everything. But before I do, please know that whatever D.J. and Dante did earlier on was also a result of my own doings. I am responsible for everything that has just happened."

Dylan let out a disappointed sigh. "Well... you'd better have a darn good explanation to explain why and how that is so, Dawkins."

"Yes, I do have an explanation, Dylan." He began. "So... here goes..."

For the next ten minutes, he told Dylan and Dolly everything that happened to him for the past few hours, from meeting Sammy and having a crush on her, to creating the _pherominol_ and how he, D.J. and Dante accidentally consumed it, and finally to how they kept on having a trance-like effect of being attracted to Da Vinci as she happened to be the first female they saw after consuming the _pherominol_.

Dylan and Dolly cringed with unease at that last part, but they finally understood why their younger brothers were behaving strangely around their sister.

"Oh dog... poor Da Vinci," Dylan eventually sighed. "So... how are you gonna fix all this, Dawkins?"

"Well... fortunately, my database has found the antidote for it, and it's being produced by the machine as we speak," Dawkins informed him. "But, while it's being produced, we do have to keep well away from our dear Da Vinci. You see..." He paused midway and smiled sheepishly. "I might have engineered the _pherominol_ in a way that the consumer would not only be impelled towards the sight of the attracted subject, but err... also towards her scent and even her voice, no matter how muffled it is."

Dylan facepawed his forehead at this.

"So... um, yes, that was why we err... behaved that way when we heard our sister hum to herself as she happened to pass by my room," Dawkins finally concluded.

Dolly rolled her eyes. "Alright, well... how long is it gonna take for that enecdote to be ready?" she asked.

" _Antidote_." Dawkins corrected her. "And, since the machine started on it about 20 minutes ago, I'd say perhaps it will be another... 40 to 45 minutes, give or take. But..." he paused and put on a more serious tone. "As I have said, we need to be well away from Da Vinci while the antidote is being produced or the same th-"

His sentence was cut short and his eyes suddenly widened. His two other brothers mirrored the same expression. Dolly and Dylan were taken aghast by their sudden demeanor, but realization hit them a second later, and they both turned their gazes behind them.

They saw Da Vinci nervously peeping out from the door of the room that she had taken refuge in to see if the coast was clear, and it was soon apparent to everyone what was about to take place next.

"Oh dog..." Dylan managed to exclaim before...

"DA VINCI!"

"DA VINCI!"

"DA VINCI!"

"DA VINCI!"

Dolly and Dylan watched in horror as their three brothers sprung towards their sister, just as she let out a terrified "EEP!" before slamming the door shut again in the nick of time.

Dawkins, D.J. and Dante started pawing and scratching the door, begging for entry while madly calling out Da Vinci's name. Their eldest siblings froze, and stared at their younger brothers' antics with bewilderment.

Not wanting to waste another second, Dylan rushed over to them and yanked Dawkins' collar with his jaws while his left paw made a grab at D.J.'s at the same time. He strained and struggled as he used whatever energy he had to pull his two desperate brothers away from the door.

Dolly joined in and started pulling Dante's collar, but she had to struggle even more as Dante was bigger, and he was stubbornly resisting her in a frantic manner. She and Dylan realized they had to keep the three well away from the living room, so they simultaneously agreed to drag their younger brothers all the way to the kitchen.

"Come... on! Just hold still!" Dylan grunted, as he continued pulling DJ and Dawkins gradually into the kitchen while they kept on flailing their paws wildly about to get away from his grip. Dolly soon arrived with a struggling Dante and she almost collapsed just trying to prevent Dante from escaping.

"Come on, guys... stop it..." Dylan pleaded, as he felt his grip on his two brothers slowly loosening by the second.

Dolly echoed his desperation. "Can you... just... HOLD STILL!" Having finally lost her patience, she gave the struggling Dante a resounding smack across his snout, the impact so hard that the noise echoed across the kitchen. A wild moment later, Dolly's heart suddenly pounded heavily against her chest as Dante lay face down on the floor, having suffered being the receiving end of his older sister's slap. Dolly's face fell. She didn't mean at all to hurt him like that.

"Oh dog... Dante..." Now riddled with guilt, Dolly went over to help her brother up, but before she could get any closer, Dante suddenly sat up on his haunches by himself before sourly rubbing on the spot where she had slapped him.

"Hey, ow... oh, man that hurts..." He moaned. "Hey... why does my snout hurt?"

Dolly stared at him, realizing that he was no longer in his trance-like state. She turned back towards Dylan before both shifted their gazes towards their remaining two brothers.

"THWAP!"

D.J. and Dawkins fell face-first onto the floor after receiving a tight slap each on the snout by their older siblings. Dante grimaced at the sight of his two brothers laying on the floor, the sound of paw against snout still ringing in his ears. At least he finally knew why his own snout was hurting.

Seconds later, D.J. and Dawkins were here groaning as they managed to pick themselves up and sat on their haunches, rubbing their sore snouts in the same manner as Dante earlier.

"Good heavens..." Dawkins winced as his paw stroked against his own muzzle. "Did I mistakenly hit something?" He asked himself in a daze.

"Uh... more like, someone un-mistakenly hit you," He heard Dante respond to him, and he looked at the goth pup and realized that he was also tending to his sore snout. He and D.J. then caught sight of Dylan and Dolly, who were staring at them with somewhat concerned looks, and he could immediately deduce what had just happened.

"Oh... we're really sorry, Dawkins," Dylan eventually said. "But that was the only thing that we could do to snap you guys out of it."

"Aw dog... you mean to say we did it again?" D.J. lamented while straightening his headphones on his head.

"Yup..." Dolly informed him. "We gotta put some distance between you guys and Da Vinci."

" _Or a restraining order_ ," Dylan quipped to himself, though nobody heard him.

Guilt bloomed in Dawkins' chest as he watched all the misery that befell on his siblings. His brothers were doing things against their own will. His sister, Da Vinci... would probably never want to speak to either of them after how they behaved around her. Dawkins silently shuddered at the thought of his family being torn apart, all because of his hedonistic greed. He had enough of it. He had to make sure everything returns to normal the soonest possible.

He breathed a long sigh before turning towards Dylan and Dolly. "I concur, I say it's best to keep Dante and D.J. far away from Da Vinci as possible... but let me go back to my room so I may configure the machine in any possible way to hasten the production of the antidote," he solemnly said.

Dylan pinched his lips to the side undecidedly, but eventually agreed to let Dawkins have his way. "Alright... anything to speed up the process I guess," he sighed, before turning towards Dolly, "Sis, you're in charge of D.J. and Dante now," he said, before continuing in an exasperated tone, "And please, for dog's sake... make sure they don't see, or even _hear_ Da Vinci in any way at all. Can you _at least_ do that?"

Dolly shot him an offended look. "Oh, please... you know I'm always the trusted one to look after our younger siblings, right?" She retorted.

Dylan wanted to roll his eyes all the way back into his sockets after hearing this, but he firmly decided to ignore Dolly's self-praise and turned his attention towards Dawkins. "Alright, before you go anywhere near the stairs, let me just have a word with Da Vinci first. It's best she knows what's actually going on so she doesn't freak out too much."

Dawkins nodded in agreement and Dylan immediately left the kitchen. He went back to the living room and rapped at the door of the room where Da Vinci had been hiding. Inside, Da Vinci was beyond reluctant to open the door, but after hearing Dylan's voice and him explaining that the trio were nowhere near, she opened the door ajar and peeked out of it.

Dylan sincerely felt sorry for her when he saw her face creased with worry and confusion. Still, he managed to explain everything that was going on in a comforting tone and manner. In just two minutes, Da Vinci finally understood why her brothers were behaving weirdly around her. It was somewhat of a relief for her knowing that they were doing it against their will. Dylan finally told her that she needed to stay in the room for at least another half an hour for Dawkins to produce the antidote, which she gladly accepted, saying, "Okay... I just want my brothers to return back to normal."

Dylan could pick up her clear concern for them in her tone, and he briefly smiled at her before closing the door. With that settled, he went off back to the kitchen to get Dawkins and the two promptly rushed upstairs, leaving Dolly with D.J. and Dante.

Dolly sat on her haunches and furrowed her brows as she looked at her two younger brothers, who merely stared back blankly at her. Since Dylan told her that they must not see or hear Da Vinci in any way at all, her current idea in response to that was to smear honey over D.J. and Dante's eyes and ears, and then sticking large balls of cotton over them.

But before she could decide any further, a loud _THUMP!_ was heard on the kitchen door followed by another, and another. The three of them exchanged glances of bewilderment before Dolly went over and opened the door to see what was going on.

"Oh dog..." She groaned.

She felt melting onto the floor as she watched all the other pups make an absolute mess of the whole backyard. Mud was playfully thrown into the air and even into each other as the younger ones got too restless from waiting for D.J. to resume playing his jams on the makeshift stage.

Dolly looked at the sky and saw that dusk was slowly setting in, meaning Mum and Dad would be just minutes away from arriving back home.

"Whoah... what just happened here?" She turned around and saw D.J. and Dante gawking in awe at the sight of the huge mess in the backyard. All Dolly could do was just let out a defeated sight before melting onto the floor.

**To be continued...**

**Hey guys! First update of the year so here's wishing a Happy 2021 to everyone! And since tomorrow is February 14th, here's wishing you all an early Valentine's Day! Hope you guys'll have a romantic day with your significant other, be it your boyfriend, girlfriend or your left hand :)**


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